As we all know, BBDO knocked Ogilvy & Mather off its throne last week to become the Cannes Lions network of the year, breaking a 5-year streak for the WPP agency.
One person who was disappointed with this development was co-chairman, worldwide chief creative officer and awards show specialist Tham Khai Meng.
In a memo sent to all Ogilvy staff as the awards concluded on Saturday, he assured employees not to view this result as a defeat, adding, “we didn’t lose the race, we just ran out of time.”
As Khai noted in his memo, the final tally was somewhat close, especially after Clemenger BBDO’s “Meet Graham” was disqualified from the Titanium and Integrated categories at the last minute because of conceptual similarities to a 32-year old anti-smoking campaign. Dave Lubars of BBDO later called that decision “preposterous” because the underlying issue had been “raised and addressed at the beginning of the festival.”
Khai led both juries.
Regarding the Integrated contest, won by 180LA for its Boost Mobile voting booth effort, he later said, “We felt very strongly that true integration is about transcending intermedia and integrating into culture and society.” This is apparently why “Meet Graham” was not considered Integrated, though no one has elaborated on that point.
McCann’s “Fearless Girl” later won the Titanium Grand Prix. Ogilvy handled PR duties for that project (sponsor State Street is a client), but you wouldn’t know it from this year’s Cannes entries.
According to the agency’s own website, “Ogilvy was heavily involved in the conception and execution of the initiative, especially the press strategy & outreach efforts.” PR Week, however, reports that “the in-house communications team at State Street Global Advisors is credited with handling PR for Fearless Girl—idea creation is credited to McCann New York.”
And according to an internal email sent to us by a third party, Ogilvy specifically requested not to be mentioned in entries submitted by McCann, which pitched Fearless Girl to Adweek and other trade publications. Aside from all the unnecessary confusion, we can presumably agree that sculptor Kristen Visbal deserves a good bit of credit for that project’s success given that she was the one who created the piece itself.
The full memo from Khai:
Photo finish
All good things must come to an end. But I don’t think this is one of them.
After five straight years of victory, this year we just missed out on Network of the Year at Cannes Lions.
When we looked at the photo finish, we saw that we came in just a nose behind. But we didn’t lose the race, we just ran out of time. And in some cases, we ran even better.
Our work this year was brave, and our clients even braver. We took risks we’ve never dared take, and asked more of ourselves than we ever have before. We delivered on everything we asked and ask of ourselves: big ideas, stellar execution, superior effectiveness, powerful emotion. That we didn’t take home the biggest prize in no way invalidates these ideals and the work that was born from them.
As reigning five-time winners, we entered this year with a target on our backs. Our competitors were gunning for us, as they have been for years. That’s an enviable position, one we’re proud to have earned. I’m pleased that we were more efficient in our award output than ever before.
It’s customary to note, when a prize has fallen just out of grasp, that there are lessons to be learned and changes to be made. Not this time. We’ll be back strong because throughout the years we have stayed true to our ideals. “If we accept losing, we cannot win,” Vince Lombardi once said. Each year, even in victory, we have vowed to relentlessly improve. We have spread creativity further and wider than we ever have throughout our organization. We have demanded more of our work and have challenged our clients big and small to create with courage.
Let’s keep doing exactly that. And maybe next year we’ll win by a stride.
On a personal note, true victory is being able to work with all the incredible, talented people across our network every day. All of us should be proud of the work we have produced. We will push on stronger than ever before, together.
We can think of at least one network that won’t be competing with Ogilvy at Cannes next year.